At the end of December, it was reported that the last of three Uighurs being held at Guantánamo had been sent to Slovakia. They had been wrongfully detained at Guantánamo for 12 years. It's three steps forward and 15 steps backwards at Guantánamo.

The majority of the men held at Guantánamo had no involvement with terrorism. Of the three men rehoused in Albania, one was a businessman, living in Europe, who had traveled to Afghanistan to provide humanitarian aid.

Obama is fortunate to have such kind allies, but he himself is the loser, the longer he refuses to tackle those who insist, in the face of overwhelming evidence, that everyone who was held at Guantánamo was a "terrorist."

If the rationale for not releasing the Yemenis from Guantánamo was extended to the U.S. prison system, no prisoner would ever be released at the end of their sentence, because prison "might have radicalized" them.

Decisions about placement of prisoners are made based on their level of compliance. It has nothing to do with alleged terrorist activities or crimes, since no one -- you got it -- no one has been convicted of anything.

My experiences out West revealed the simmering race relations between the Han and Uighur peoples, which helps explain the necessity of sending Uighur detainees from Guantanamo to Palau and not back to China.